What alternatives do you see? Medium?
https://www.beehiiv.com/
That is such an awful URL.
Ask HN: Is Substack worth the hassle in 2022?
21–25 of 25 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is Substack worth the hassle in 2022?
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both… I think subscribers are generally happy for what they get, and there a number of interesting providers. I also can read about a few providers not being happy. Are you on there in some capacity?
I can’t see what would possess somebody to subscribe to a mailing list for any reason in 2022. Email is mostly for receiving spam today, I’d much rather read blogs in a basically clean set of RSS feeds rather than getting opted in from several businesses every day, some of which I know, some of which I don’t.
For some reason some people are absolutely enamoured with mailing lists. Maybe it's an (Internet) generation thing, because i also consider RSS to be a much better way to "receive" content, and email is either for spam or serious communication (bills, taxes, etc).
Re: Ask HN: Is Substack worth the hassle in 2022?
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
(obligatory shilling) If we are missing a feature you want, come help us build it! https://substack.com/jobs
I get the impression that the SEO on substack needs working on - sometimes when I google someone (e.g. 'Scott Alexander' or 'Matt Yglesias') their old pages with their old writing will come up before their substack page.
Yeah we for sure need to improve in that department
Re: Ask HN: Is Substack worth the hassle in 2022?
#24Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can’t see what would possess somebody to subscribe to a mailing list for any reason in 2022. Email is mostly for receiving spam today, I’d much rather read blogs in a basically clean set of RSS feeds rather than getting opted in from several businesses every day, some of which I know, some of which I don’t.
For some reason some people are absolutely enamoured with mailing lists. Maybe it's an (Internet) generation thing, because i also consider RSS to be a much better way to "receive" content, and email is either for spam or serious communication (bills, taxes, etc).
I am not opposed to the idea of an email list except I have to go through a continuous process of unsubscribing myself from email lists and maintaining spam filters just to be able to read email.
Subscribing to any email list deliberately just breaks down the discipline of delisting myself from hpunwanted email lists.
Re: Ask HN: Is Substack worth the hassle in 2022?
#25Disclaimer: I work at Substack. For readers - yes, there is something on Substack you will absolutely love. We don't do a fantastic job of surfacing all the content yet, but we're working on it. For writers - depends on what you want. If you want to self-host or customize every bit of design - we probably aren't for you. If you want it to be super easy to publish a free or paid newsletter - Substack is great. If you…
Substack is "Medium + OnlyFans". It attracts content creators because there's not yet alternatives that offer such turnkey monetization (e.g. Patreon is all a bit more DIY). It works for readers because Substack pulled in some real heavy hitters as early adopters (maybe through enhanced financial incentives?), and so the Substack brand has been linked to those prestigious content creators. Once they start promoting a…
Substack gives a voice the the people that have been shun from far left and state sanctioned circles, like Twitter or Medium. This is certainly neither Medium (which bans people that do not follow progressive morals or ideals) nor OnlyFans (which is a porn website).
Paid news letters aren't new and didn't wait either Onlyfan or Medium to be a thing.